by Calculated Risk on 1/14/2015 12:17:00 PM

From CoreLogic: Press Release and National Foreclosure Report

According to CoreLogic, for the month of November 2014, there were 41,000 completed foreclosures nationally, down from 46,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 9.6 percent and down 64 percent from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010. ...

As of November 2014, approximately 567,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 880,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35.5 percent and representing 37 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of November 2014 made up 1.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.2 percent in November 2013.
...
“While there has been a large improvement in the reduction of foreclosure inventory, completed foreclosures remain high and serve as one of the obstacles to new single family construction. Until the flow of completed foreclosures declines to normal levels, new-home construction will not pickup because builders have little incentive to compete with foreclosure stock.” Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic

A couple of points: As Khater noted, foreclosures are still an obstacle to new single family construction. In the report, CoreLogic notes that the "completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006" (foreclosure won't decline to zero).